LPGA Hana Bank Championship - Epilogue

In my tournament preview, I wondered how anybody - even Yani Tseng - could be favored to win over Na Yeon Choi given Choi's record on the course and her recent play.  Serves me right for doubting the Terror of Taiwan.  The countdown continues - Yani's sixth LPGA victory of 2011 is the eleventh of her career and gives her 17 Hall of Fame points.  Nobody is going to steal Player of the Year away from her and she now has a 0.94 lead in the low-scoring race for the Vare Trophy.

Tseng started the final round tied with Choi for second place, one shot behind KLPGA player Soo-Jin Yang.  NYC birdied the first hole to tie for the lead but gave it right back with a bogey at 2.  Yang slipped into a three-way tie when she bogeyed 3 and another bogey at 4 dropped her one back of her playing partners.  One group ahead, Jimin Kang had birdied three of the first five holes to reach -10 and take the lead.  Tseng birdied 5 to tie Kang at -10 as Yang rebounded with birdie to move into a tie for third.  Kang bogeyed 6 to give Tseng the solo lead.  Choi bogeyed 6 to fall two back and got the shot back at 7 but Yani birdied it too to open up a two-shot lead.  Kang bogeyed 8 to fall three back - though she rallied on the back, she never did get any closer.  Another birdie at 8 gave Tseng a three-shot lead heading to the back nine.  Na Yeon birdied 10 and 11 to charge within one while Yang birdied 11 to get within two.  All three players parred 12 and 14 and birdied the par-5 13^th, leaving Tseng at -13, Choi at -12 and Yang at -11.  At 15, Yang bogeyed to fall out of contention while Tseng birdied to go back up by two.  Yani parred out while Choi was only able to birdie 18, making the final margin one stroke.

If not for those two front nine bogeys, Jimin Kang would have stayed in contention for her second Asian swing victory in twelve months.  Oddly enough, the T3 finish was Jimin's first Top 10 of the year and her first since a T8 at Mizuno last November.  Since I don't have a good gauge on whether the KLPGA's Yang (T3) or Yeon-Ju Jung (T7) are more deserving, Kang gets this week's Big Surprise Award.

After being shown by the oddsmakers as the second-best favorite behind Tseng, Suzann Pettersen (+8 T63) was better than only five players in the field.  For that, she collects this week's Big Disappointment Award.